Tool-head fastener.



G. H. MERRITT.

TOOL HEAD FASTENER.

APPLICATION man ocT.26,1914.

l 90,76. Patented July 11, 1916.

51m fue/nto@ GEORGE I-I. MERRITT, OF TACOIVIA, WASHINGTON.

TOOL-HEAD FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 11, 1916..

Application filed October 26, 1914. Serial No. 868,615.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Il. MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Tacoma, in the county of Iierce, State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tool-Head Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for fastening tools to their handles and has special reference to picaroons, adZes, hoes and other tools which are mounted on the end of a handle.

The objects of this invention are to provide a very simple, cheap, and effective device whereby it is practically impossible to separate the tool head from the handle when it has once been driven home thereon. I attain these and other objects by the devices, and arrangements illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a picaroon head mounted on a handle; Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; Fig. 3 is a cross-section thereof; and Fig. 4 is a bottom plan of the picaroon removed from the head and handle.

Similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

This invention has been illustrated as be ing applied to a loggers picar-oon, as it is especially adapted for use with that tool, but it is also applicable to a large number of different kinds of tools.

The handle 1 is slit in the usual way to receive a wedge. The head consists -of a socket 2, into which the end of the handle 1 freely enters, and from which a projection 3 extends. This projection 3 is provided with a conical hole 4 passing axially through it and diminishing in diameter as itv passes from the outside to the handle socket. This hole is in line with the slit in the handle 1.

The tool, such as the picaroon 5, has a conical part 6 shaped to fit into the conical hole 4, and also has a double wedge piece 7 extending from the end of the part 6 and adapted to enter the slit in the handle 1. This part 7 is wedge shaped in two directions, having its upper side wider than the lower edge (Fig. 3) and having the end of said upper side wider than at the point where it joins the part 6 (Figs. 2 and 4). The head may also have a hammer projecf tion S oppositely positioned to the projection 3, if desired. It is readily seen that this head is applied to the handle by first inserting the tool end 6 in the hole 4 so that the wedge 7 extends into the handle socket with its wedge edge downward, then the handle is inserted into the socket so that its slit is entered by the edge of the wedge 7 and then the head is driven down on the handle. This action forces the wedge 7 to spread the sides of the handle into tight contact with the sides of the socket, and also the resulting pressure of the wood on the wedgeshaped upper edges of the part 7 draws it farther into the handle and therefore draws the cone 6 into tight contact with the correspondingly shaped sides of the hole 4, so

that the tool 5 is very firmly held against strains from any direction. The upper edges of the part 7 being sharp further prevent any upward shifting of the head on the handle.

There are numerous advantages in this device which will be readily Vapparent to those familiar with the art, chief of which perhaps may be mentioned the fact that the wedge 7, being itself irremovable on account of its wedge-shaped upper surface, makes it practically impossible for the tool head to come off the handle in use so long as the handle remains intact.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a tool head fastener, the combination with a handle having a slit in its end; of a tool-carrying socket surrounding said end of the handle and having a conical cavity therein, the axis of said cavity being at right-angles to the axis of said socket, and its small end being adjacent said handle; a conical body fitting in said cavity; and a double wedge extending from the small end of said conical body into the slit in the handle and adapted to spread the handle into Contact with the socket and to draw the conical body toward the handle and into contact with the cavity walls.

2. In a tool head fastener, the combination with a handle having a slit in its end; of a socket surrounding said end of the handle and having a conical cavity therein extending through the socket walls, the axis of said cavity being at right-angles to the aXis of said socket, audits small end being draw the conical body toward the handle adjacent said handle; a tool; ay conical body and into Contact with the cavity walls. extending from the tool and `fitting in said cavity'andadouble Wedge extending from Y GEORGE H' MERRITT' .1; the small end of said conical body into the Witnesses:

slit in the handle and adapted V1:0 spread the M. F. MCNEIL, handle into Contact with the socket and to AMON SHAFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for iiye cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, D. C. 

